The present application relates to nail trimmers, and more particularly, to nail trimmers for pets.
Routine trimming of a pets' nails is important not only for grooming purposes but for the health of the pet. A pet's nails, such as a dog's or a cat's nails, grow quickly and must be trimmed once or twice a month. Otherwise, untrimmed nails can lead to a variety of health problems. For example, long nails can break, be painful and bleed. In extreme circumstances, dogs' nails may actually curl and grow into their paw. For these reasons, there are several types of nail trimmers available for trimming pets' nails.
One type of pet nail trimmer has opposable handles that when squeezed together, cause a narrow blade to slide across an opening. A pet's nail is positioned in the opening and the blade cuts the nail to a desired length.
Another type of pet nail trimmer looks and operates similar to a pair of scissors. These nail trimmers include opposable cutting surfaces, each attached to a handle. A pet's nail is inserted in a space between the cutting surfaces to cut the nail to a desired length. Similar to a pair of scissors, the handles are squeezed together to cause the cutting surfaces to move together and cut the nail.
Nail grinders are pet grooming tools that grind down a sharp edge or sharp point of a pet's nail after the nail has been cut. The grinders are also used in place of nail clippers/trimmers, to grind down a pet's nail to a desired length. These nail grinders typically include a relatively hard grinding surface that is rotated by an electric motor at a high rate of speed. The grinding surface is moved into contact with the pet's nail and grinds away portions of the nail.
International Application No. WO 02/051242 to Kang discloses a safety nail clipper for pets having a nail clipper and a nail grinder. The nail clipper in Kang has a body that includes a nail clipper at one end and a motorized ceramic ball for grinding pets' nails on an opposing end. A narrow handle is pivotally connected to the body and is squeezed to cause upper and lower shearing edges to cut a pet's nail. Although Kang discloses a single tool having a nail clipper and nail grinder, the handle is relatively thin and does not enable a user to easily grasp the handle and body to squeeze the handle to clip a pet's nail. Also, the thinness of the handle makes it susceptible to bending or breaking during use. Furthermore, storing the battery, motor and grinding ball all in the body significantly reduces the amount of space available for other components of the nail clipper such as a spring, wiring and other parts. It also causes the body to have a larger size and shape, which makes grasping and manipulating the nail clipper more difficult.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved pet nail trimmer that provides a nail clipper and a nail grinder in a single tool and enables a user to quickly and easily grasp and manipulate the nail trimmer to trim pets' nails.